The WBS Timeline
The concept of the WBS timeline centres around the most significant milestones that happened during the School’s 50 year history. We then added some interesting local and global facts alongside those dates in order to give historical context to those special WBS moments.
1968
WBS
Wits Business School opens its doors. The first programme is a partnership with Stanford University: Executive Development Programme for Senior Managers.
SOUTH AFRICA
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriage Bill is adopted.
GLOBAL
Rev Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis.
1968
1970
WBS
WBS buys Outeniqua House from Wits University. Lecture theatres, an administration block & a library are built.
SOUTH AFRICA
The International Olympic Committee expels South Africa.
GLOBAL
US President Nixon orders an invasion of Cambodia.
1970
1971
WBS
Graduation of the first MBA class of 14 students.
SOUTH AFRICA
Ahmed Timol, political activist dies in detention. Apartheid government claims “suicide”.
GLOBAL
The world’s first microprocessor is launched.
1971
1974
WBS
Wits creates a separate Faculty of Business Administration.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa is suspended from the United Nations General Assembly.
GLOBAL
Mohammed Ali defeats George Foreman in Kinshasa in what was called “the greatest sporting event of the 20th century”.
1974
1980
WBS
MBA elective courses are introduced for the first time. 3 black MBA students registered.
SOUTH AFRICA
Hundreds of school children arrested under the Riotous Assemblies Act.
GLOBAL
John Lennon is shot dead in New York.
Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
1980
1981
WBS
WBS has 48 full-time MBA students & 153 part-time students: Of the total, 10 are black, 6 are Asian & 29 are women.
The first black MBA student, Sam Molebatse, graduates.
SOUTH AFRICA
Bishop Desmond Tutu is arrested & his passport confiscated.
GLOBAL
The Centre for Disease Control & Prevention recognises AIDS for the first time.
1981
1982
WBS
Constance Nkosi becomes the first black woman to receive an MBA.
WBS introduces first Certified Programme in Industrial Relations (CPIR).
SOUTH AFRICA
Activist Ruth First is killed by a letter bomb in Mozambique.
Nelson Mandela is transferred from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison.
GLOBAL
Times Magazine’s Man of the Year is given for the first time to a non-human, the computer.
1982
1985
WBS
The first IT course, Advanced Information Systems, becomes part of the MBA.
SOUTH AFRICA
PW Botha declares a state of emergency in South Africa, then delivers infamous ‘Rubicon’ speech.
COSATU is founded.
GLOBAL
Microsoft introduces Windows.
The hole in the Ozone is first reported.
UK’s first cellular network is launched.
1985
1987
WBS
A group of WBS alumni join lecturer Dr Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert & a delegation of 61 Business Leaders to meet underground members of the ANC headed by Thabo Mbeki in Dakar.
SOUTH AFRICA
ANC headquarters in London bombed under orders from the SA government.
GLOBAL
US President Reagan challenges Soviet President Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
Black Monday on Wall Street.
1987
1993
WBS
WBS establishes new Graduate School of Public & Development Management (P&DM).
WBS runs a joint executive programme with the South African Police & uMkhonto we Sizwe.
SOUTH AFRICA
Chris Hani is assassinated.
Multi-party talks resume at CODESA.
Nelson Mandela & FW de Klerk win the Nobel Peace Prize.
UN lifts sanctions against South Africa.
COSATU is founded.
GLOBAL
European Union formally established.
1993
1996
WBS
New MBA subjects include Labour Problems & Issues in African Management.
SOUTH AFRICA
The new constitution is approved, guaranteeing equal rights for all races.
Truth & Reconciliation Commission begins.
GLOBAL
Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned, is born in Scotland.
1996
2001
WBS
WBS & the P&DM are integrated into Wits University’s new Faculty of Commerce, Law & Management.
SOUTH AFRICA
Aids activist Nkosi Johnson dies.
The UN World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia & Related Intolerance is held in Durban.
GLOBAL
2,977 people killed in the September 11 attacks in America.
2001
2003
WBS
The Higher Education Quality Committee re-accredits the WBS MBA programme.
SOUTH AFRICA
The Truth & Reconciliation Commission releases its final report.
Anti-apartheid activist Walter Sisulu dies.
GLOBAL
The Iraq War begins. US forces seize control of Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls.
The acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spreads to 32 countries around the world.
2003
2007
WBS
Executive Education programmes are ranked No. 45 in the world by the Financial Times.
SOUTH AFRICA
Jacob Zuma succeeds Thabo Mbeki as Leader of the ANC.
GLOBAL
Steve Jobs unveils the Apple iPhone
Crisis in the mortgage market precipitates the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.
2007
2012
WBS
WBS holds its first Careers Fair.
SOUTH AFRICA
34 mine workers killed & 78 left seriously injured by police at the Marikana massacre.
GLOBAL
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research announces the discovery of a new particle after Large Hadron Collider experiments.
2012
2015
WBS
WBS establishes the Chair in African Philanthropy, the first of its kind in Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA
Homo naledi unveiled by Wits Professor Lee Berger.
GLOBAL
Refugee crisis in Europe, mostly from war-torn Syria.
South African Comedian Trevor Noah succeeds Jon Stewart as host of the The Daily Show.
2015
2016
WBS
WBS introduces a new MBA curriculum. First PDBA cohort.
BCX Chair in Digital Business is launched, another first for Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA
South African sprinter Wayde van Niekerk wins gold, smashing the 400m world record at the Brazilian Olympics.
GLOBAL
Britain votes’to leave the European Union: “Brexit”.
Donald Trump wins the US presidency.
2016
2017
WBS
WBS establishes the continent’s first African Energy Leadership Centre (AELC)
SOUTH AFRICA
Severe drought in Western Cape.
Cyril Ramaphosa becomes President of the ANC.
GLOBAL
North Korea conducts a number of nuclear tests.
The year of cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin’s value growing over 1000%.
2017
2018
2018